MedAdvisor’s US digital strategy set to boost first-half revenue by up to 60pc

An acquisitive couple of years is starting to pay off for pharmacy tech company MedAdvisor (ASX: MDR) which has forecast a spike of between 50 and 60 per cent in first-half revenue for FY23.

MedAdvisor is expecting revenue to land between $58 million and $61 million for the six months to the end of December, up from $38.7 million in the same period last year.

The Melbourne-based company, which now generates about 75 per cent of its revenue from the US following the $49 million buyout of Adheris in 2020, says the profit surge has been driven by momentum from its US digital strategy.

However, the company has warned that the current growth will not be sustained into the second half due to the seasonal skew caused by the northern winter.

MedAdvisor, which launched to the market in 2012 after commercialising its platform for pharmacy-to-patient digital communications, is driving the digitisation of pharmacy services such as medication management, medication ordering and remote support. The company has grown its SaaS (software as a service) model to include clinical service capabilities, allowing pharmacies to identify appropriate patients for funded services like in-pharmacy testing, vaccinations and medication reviews.

Since the 2020 acquisition of Adheris, the largest patient-prescriber network in the US which reaches over 60 per cent of the population, MedAdvisor has ramped up its digital strategy which has been increasingly supported major pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The company says the growth comes in the wake of an expansion of its COVID-19 awareness program and a strong take-up by US pharmacies of MedAdvisor’s digital platform, inMotion, especially in the second quarter of this financial year.

“MedAdvisor is seeing an increase in the use of inMotion thanks to the number of community pharmacies enabling digital access to 60 million individuals, combined with MedAdvisor’s ability to service this growth at scale through our technology platform,” says Rick Ratliff, the company’s US-based CEO who was appointed in July.

“The success of our expanded US COVID-19 programs has continued the trend we saw at the end of Q1, and with additional pharmacies participating through inMotion, we are seeing a significant growth in revenue.”

Ratliff says MedAdvisor is currently benefitting from increased vaccination awareness and education programs by pharmaceutical companies as the US deals with health issues related to the flu, respiratory syncytial virus and COVID-19.

“These programs are, to some extent, seasonal and we expect to realise the majority of program revenues within this first half,” he says.

“We are pleased with the first half revenue momentum. However, expect it to moderate in the second half noting the typical seasonal peaks the US business experiences.”

MedAdvisor, which is making inroads into the UK market through strategic partnerships with bodies such as the National Pharmacy Association, expanded into New Zealand this year. An agreement with Green Cross Health has given the company access to about 40 per cent of the New Zealand market.

The company also ramped up its dominance in the Australian market with the $9.1 million acquisition of GuildLink in July, firming up its existing relationship with The Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

GuildLink is the digital health arm of the Guild Group, which is a fully owned subsidiary of The Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

MedAdvisor’s shares surged more than 24 per cent to 28c in early trade this morning before settling back to 24.5c at 10.21am (AEDT).